By Lady Williamson
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Robert Anthony Plant CBE (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their break up in 1980; since then he has had a successful solo career, sometimes collaborating with other artists such as Alison Krauss. Regarded by many as one of the greatest singers in rock music, he is known for his flamboyant persona and raw stage performances.
Plant was born and brought up in the West Midlands area of England, where after leaving grammar school he briefly trained as a chartered accountant before leaving home at 16 years old to concentrate on singing with a series of local blues bands, including Band of Joy with John Bonham. In 1968, he was invited by Peter Grant and Jimmy Page to join The Yardbirds, which Grant and Page were attempting to keep going. The new version of The Yardbirds changed their name to Led Zeppelin, and from the late 1960s to the end of the 1970s the band enjoyed considerable success.
Plant developed a compelling image as a charismatic rock-and-roll front man, comparable to contemporaries such as Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Roger Daltrey of the Who, Jim Morrison of the Doors, and Freddie Mercury of Queen. After Led Zeppelin dissolved in 1980, Plant continued to perform and record continuously on a variety of solo and group projects. His first well known post-Led Zeppelin project was The Honeydrippers, alongside former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, among others. In 1988, he released the solo album Now and Zen, from which came the hit singles “Tall Cool One” and “Ship of Fools“. In the 1990s, another reunion project named Page and Plant released two studio albums and a live album from an MTV Unplugged performance, as well as winning the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1998 for “Most High“. In 2007, Plant began a collaboration with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, releasing the album Raising Sand, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2009 and produced the hit song “Please Read the Letter“, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year the same year. In 2010, he revived the Band of Joy (which shared its name with an early band he performed with in the 1960s), and in 2012 formed a new band, the Sensational Space Shifters, followed by a reunion with Alison Krauss in 2019.
In 1995, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked Plant number 15 on their list of the 100 best singers of all time. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers ranked Plant the greatest of all lead singers. In 2006, Hit Parader magazine named Plant the “Greatest Metal Vocalist of All Time”. In 2009, Plant was voted “the greatest voice in rock” in a poll conducted by UK classic rock radio station Planet Rock. In 2023, Billboard ranked him number 4 on their list of The 50 Greatest Rock Lead Singers of All Time.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Benjamin Harrison (23rd U.S. president) –
- Edgar Guest (poet) –
- Don King (boxing promoter) –
- Isaac Hayes (singer) –
- Connie Chung (journalist) –
- Robert Plant (singer) –
- Al Roker (co-anchor and TV weatherman) –
- Joan Allen (actress) –
- Billy Gardell (actor) –
- Amy Adams (actress) –
Died
- Pope Pius X (religious leader) –
- Sir Fred Hoyle (astronomer) –
- Somporn Saekow (founder of first Thailand monkey-training school) –
- Joe Rosenthal (photojournalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for the image of World War II servicemen raising an American flag over Iwo Jima. The photo became the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial) –
- Leona Helmsley (hotel magnate) –
- Phyllis Diller (comedienne & actress) –
- Elmore Leonard (author) –
- Jerry Lewis (comedian) –
Events
- The 1812 Overture debuted in Moscow–
- Strowger firm applied for a patent for the first telephone rotary dial–
- The Plant Quarantine Act came into effect, placing restrictions on the entry of plants into the U.S.–
- German forces occupied Brussels–
- Project Manhigh II completed–
- 563-lb. 8-oz. giant sea bass caught near Anacapa Island, California–
- The unmanned U.S. planetary probe Viking 1 was launched on a journey to Mars. After nearly a year in space, it became the first vehicle to land on that planet–
- Jellyfish invaded the beaches of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island–
- Parade of 83 tow trucks set a world record in Wenatchee, Washington–
- Talk show host Regis Philbin achieved the Guinness World Record for most hours on camera–
Weather
- Salt crystals fell from the sky over Switzerland–
- The town of Indianola, Texas, was completely destroyed by a hurricane and fire–
- Deadly tornado hit Sudbury, Ontario–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
